By Callum Paton.
Tripoli, 2 February 2014:
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has denied that Egypt released a leading Libyan militia chief because five . . .[restrict]of its diplomats had been kidnapped in Tripoli nine days ago. He was speaking after a meeting with Egyptian premier Hazem Beblawi in Cairo.
At a joint press conference with Beblawi, Zeidan said on Friday that the release by the Egyptians of the head of the Libyan Revolutionaries Operation Room (LROR), Shaaban Hadia Al-Zway, did not mean that the Egyptian authorities had caved in to pressure or negotiated an exchange following the kidnapping of the Egyptian diplomats.
The Prime Minister said that he knew Zway personally. He called him “an ordinary man”, adding that the LROR commander had merely been questioned and released by the Egyptians over his residency in Egypt.
“I have been assured by the Prime Minister that the Egyptian state would never accept or tolerate blackmail or compromise,” Zeidan said, adding “The Egyptian government has acted with honour in this matter”.
Beblawi said that Egyptian diplomatic staff would be returning to Libya when the security situation allowed. He said that the evacuation of Egyptian envoys from Libya had been solely for security reasons and did not reflect a breakdown in diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Zeidan called Libya’s relationship with Egypt “one of the main pillars” of his country’s foreign policy, adding that he hoped the two states would continue to cooperate in the areas of the economy, labour, culture and education.
The Prime Minister yesterday went on to have his first meeting with Field Marshall Sisi. According to Libya Mostakbal, the two men reportedly discussed matters of border security including the cross-border movement of weapons and extremist groups.
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